The Feel of Freedom
by Damian Rancow
Summary: (REUPLOAD) What if Ushari cared and has shown his other side? (3 parts ministory)
1. Chapter 1

**The story was reuploaded after I had some problems with publishing the new chapter. **

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The whole volcano caldera was filled with rain after Kion's gentle blow of air, which surprised the Lion Guard and also terrified Scar. The fire spirit began to slowly fade away emitting more and more smoke from itself.

Ushari, being immobilized by Bunga, slowly raised his head concerned about this phenomenon.

"What?" the cobra asked himself, drops of water flowing down his scaly body close to the hood. "Scar's plan failed?"

The rain seemed to made Scar more furious, indicating that he began to roar louder.

"The Roar is a curse, Kion!" the fire spirit shouted with angrier tone.

The lion teenager stepped closer to the abyss, his left paw rubbing the fresh mark on his eye.

"Yeah?" Kion scoffed, his voice became more serious. "Prove it!"

Scar smirked. This behavior shown by the little lion only convinced him that Kion was becoming the same as him. The fire spirit was joyful with that revelation.

"I will SHOW you, right now"

It didn't even take a second, when a ball of fire began to form in Scar's pyronic muzzle. Kion began to regret, when the form of fire began to grow with each breath and then knew that he had done wrong by provoking his great uncle to fight.

"YOUR HIGHNESS! DON'T HURT HIM!"

The lion teenager heard Ushari's voice and tried to look at him, but before having chance to react, he, his team and the whole volcano were consumed by the bright yellow light. The brightness of the light forced Kion to close to both of his eyes.

He heard a piercing scream that echoed off the nearest walls of the volcano. The scream so painful that it forced him and all teammates to plug their ears with limbs.

The light stopped with the screams that accompanied it.

Kion gingerly opened his eyes and looked straight ahead. Scar was gone along with the threat that lurked at Pride Lands.

The lion teenager sighed with relief.

His homeland was finally safe.

Unaware of what had happened, Kion looked down and jolted.

"Kion? I have a problem" Bunga nervously giggled, noting that his limbs are settling on the stones "Ushari managed to escape"

"W-what!?" Fuli yelled to him in a reply. "How could you let him go?"

"That's not Bunga's fault, Fuli" Ono added with assured face. "Ushari is smart. He could've use the light as an opportunity to escape and he made it"

"F-Friends?" the lion teenager stammered, as he whipped around to look at his team. "The snake did not leave the burrow"

"He is here!?" anger grew in honey badger's eyes along with his courage, as he started to wave his fists forward. "Where is he? I have to make sense with this oversized worm!"

"You can't" Kion replied firmly. "He just saved my life"

"Excuse me?" Beshte asked with a raised eyebrow. "What do you exactly mean, Kion?"

The lion teenager got out of the way, giving his friends a view of what was behind.

Just behind him lay unconscious Ushari, or something that looked like him. The cobra was really wounded, blood leaked from his nostrils and snout. His stomach was massacred by the pressure of the fireball thrown by Scar's roar.

He seemed to have taken the blow that was aimed at Kion, right at himself.

...

Ushari woke up with a groan through the sun's rays that settled on his scaly. The place where he was looked like a cave and was full of lianas protruding from the ceiling, which gave the impression of being an abandoned place.

The cobra raised his head and groaned again, after get a hanging where he was.

It was not a deserted place.

The inside of the Pride Rock. The home of the king of Pride Landers himself. King Simba.

The snake trying to move in a way, felt pain and pressure piercing his whole body. Looking down, he saw shades of green.

He was covered in seaweed making up all his limbless body and made it all itch. Despite the soreness and weakness he felt, Ushari tried to remove them.

Touching with a tail close to the heart, he felt a shrill pain that knocked him back. His cobra hood was not helping it at all, serving him another dose of pain.

He warned himself that kelp works like bandages and he shouldn't touch it, because it just didn't pay off.

The snake felt sleepy and landed with chin on the stone floor. Ushari rarely had time to sleep including his servation for Scar, but his old habits were telling about it.

"Come back to rest, my subject" he heard a order above him given by beautiful female voice next to him. "I heard from my son that his friend disturbed you in that task"

Ushari yawned and turned his head in the direction from where he heard the voice. His eyes widened momentarily and his snout began to tremble.

It was Queen Nala, her turquoise eyes were gazing at him with concern. Despite the smile on her tawny muzzle, he felt weakened. He was sincerely ashamed that he had left his real home and joined Scar recognizing his power. It was also joined by the awareness that he persuaded Kiburi to assassinate her husband. And all this because Kion and his friends did not let him to take a nap.

All those sad memories came back to him, like a bolt from the sky.

Tears appeared in Ushari's eyes, as the cobra itself turned red.

He started to cry.

"I-Is something wrong, Ushari?" the lioness asked with raised eyebrow. "Why are you crying?"

The snake's eyes were full of waterfalls, as he approached the queen and bowed to her.

"I'm so sorry, p-please forgive me for my mistakes!" Ushari stuttered mixing it with hissing, his head gently touching Nala's belly. "I w-was s-so wrong about y-you, I shouldn't betray you!"

The female lioness used her paw to caress cobra's back.

"Shhh, It's okay" she whispered with a smile. "You acted under the influence of emotions"

Ushari was cuddled in his queen's fur, whispering the same three words over and over.

"I'm so sorry"


	2. Chapter 2

Kion and his father entered the place Ushari was along with Nala. The lion teenager looked worried about the situation in which the cobra found itself, while Simba looked like he was trying to stay formal despite knowing that Kion had been saved by a Scar's follower.

When they both found themselves next to the female lioness, the lion teenager spotted that Ushari slept peacefully in her paw embrance. Queen Nala nodded to them both, as they nodded back at the same time in her direction.

"M-mom?" Kion started, his voice being a little mixed with a worry. "How is he feeling?"

"Good" the female lioness replied with a uneven sigh. "Rafiki found it a little problematic to stop Ushari's hemorrhage, but our friend managed to do it with the help of Bunga, who found some seaweed in the nearest river"

"Good job, Bunga" the lion teenager whispered to himself with a smile and then his gaze focused on the sleeping cobra, who was barely aware of what was happening around him.

"You told me, he saved you... right?" Simba asked his son with a feeling of resentment in his voice. "You said Ushari had a relationship with Scar, you just trusted him after that?"

Kion rolled his eyes with annoyed expression, seeing his father being so unforgivable toward Ushari.

"Dad... If it wasn't for him, I would have become grilled meat from my great uncle's roar"

"I know, I just" Simba backtracked. "I just... can't believe Scar's follower saved your life from clutches of his own master"

Kion's father paused feeling a little more strange than he ever was.

"That was..." he continued with a groan. "That was so unexpected from someone, who was so royal to murderer of my father and your grandfather"

Kion sighed and approached his father for a hug. The adult lion, who felt a little more agitated than before, hugged his son back.

"Shhh" Nala whispered, continuing to caress the sleeping cobra's back. "You must be silent, our friend found himself in a nap and I'm sure you both do not want to wake him up"

Simba and Kion looked at each other with a nod and trying to be as quiet as they could, they arranged themselves in a lying down position.

"What if he will wake up?" the adult lion asked, still being uncertain. "What if in the act of self-defense he will bite your mother?"

Nala smirked.

"Aww, do not worry about that, sweetie" the female lioness chuckled. "Even if he wakes up, he will leave only two blank marks and nothing else. Rafiki already managed to completely remove the poison from his fangs. These are ordinary teeth now"

Despite the beliefs Kion and Nala gave him, Simba was still being skeptical and looked ominously at the cobra. The sinister glare began to increase as Ushari began to wake up.

Ushari groaned, slowly opening both of his eyes. The snake tried to get up on its tail and murmured something unclear under his breath. The snake with a short scream expanded his hood, which worried and scared the king of the Pride Lands.

Fearing, that Ushari might hurt his son, Simba pushed Kion away and stood right in front of the barely conscious snake. The lion himself stood on four limbs and snarled furiously at Ushari.

"Dad, calm down" Kion assured with a nervous tone. "Remember, he saved me and you appreciate those who saved me"

"But" his father replied without stopping being in that position. "He is on Scar's side. I can't trust him that way"

"He WAS on Scar's side" Nala said with a saddened tone, seeing her husband still experience the death of his father. "Just understand, If that snake was really on his side, he wouldn't save our son"

Simba hesitated, his son and wife were right, but hatred of his uncle gripped his heart. Turning his eyes down, he saw how Ushari due to lack of energy and exhaustion land on the stone floor.

"Dad... please, don't hurt him" Kion said with frightened tone, hoping that he would speak to his senses. "Ushari doesn't know what's going on around him"

Kion's father sighed and stepped back standing right next to his son.

It meant he had finally let go and trusted his son's instinct.

"F-for... Forgive me" the adult lion sighed with relief. "I didn't know what I was doing"

Kion hugged his father again, but this time Simba didn't hug him back. The king's eyes focused on Ushari, who fell asleep after falling down on his back.

He felt no more anger, but anxiety about the guest in their home.

"Feeling better?" Nala asked with a concern.

Simba with a sigh, glanced at his wife and nodded.

"Y-yeah" the adult lion replied. "A lot of better"

The eyes of an adult lion turned toward his son. Even at the moment in Kion's eyes, his father looked brave and courageous like in the old times.

The adult lion coughed before speaking.

"Kion, go outside, your friends are waiting for you there"

The lion teenager raised his eyebrow.

"Pardon me?" Kion tried to be as nice as he could, when those words came out of his muzzle. "Why do you want me to leave?"

"We don't chase you out of here, sweetheart" Nala sighed, as she glanced down at the sleeping cobra blowing on her chest. "Things just got complicated because of... a new guest in our house. You would be bored to death if you had to watch him with us, so we just given you a ticket to go outside"

Kion thought for a moment.

"I think you are right" the lion teenager stated with a smile. "You have to take care of someone else now"

Kion glanced at the creature, who, despite its personality and the way it treated other animals around when they were close to it, hid actually a better personality under the scaly body.

The creature's heart was freed from being trapped in the stone.


	3. Chapter 3

**The last chapter of this ministory is finally out :)**

**Leave a review, If you liked this story.**

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**COUPLE OF YEARS EARLIER**

It was a judgment day in Pride Lands. The animals that lived in the nearest areas, gathered at Pride Rock to have a say on this matter. The sun was setting slowly behind the trees, giving the beginning of the night.

The cobra family turned out to be traitors, who disrupted all the rules of the Circle of Life. The head of the family had no choice but to kill Hyrax, hanging around next to their hole.

Otherwise his son would starve to death, when there was no food for them. The reason was the increasing heat on the dry terrains of savanna, where the snakes lived.

A malefactor along with his mate and their child were taken by other Pride Landers with force on the top of prominent stone, where the adult feline stood.

"Your highness!" the male Egyptian cobra desperately bowed to the lion, being shortly released by other animals. "Have mercy on us"

Mufasa remained with the same stone expressionless glare as before, when the snake sniffed lion's muscular paws.

"You disregarded the rules of the circle of life..." he stated with a formal tone, looking at the terrified and weeping little hatchling who was cuddled by his mother's body. "You must bear the consequences"

"B-but y-your highness..." the female cobra started speaking, as tears rolled down her eyes. "Our son would starve if we didn't do it"

"You could have told me about it" Mufasa quirked an eyebrow. "I would have help you, before you would do that horrible crime"

The male Egyptian cobra raised his head from a bow.

"We wanted to" the snake hissed, hoping it will soften the heart of the king. "But the king had his family and the own duties"

Mufasa sighed and looked at the crowd of animals in front of him.

"Dear Pride Landers" the adult feline spoke with a high tone, to make sure the subjects hear him. "We all gathered here, to discuss the crime that this snake family committed"

The gathering of animals did not hide their aggression towards the cobras, calling them monsters and ocassionally showing no affection for both of the hatchling's parents.

Their king seeing this, sighed.

"To avoid misunderstandings" Mufasa suggested with a growl. "You should decide what to do with them"

The male Egyptian cobra hearing this, backed away just to be blocked by other animals standing right behind him. The other animals pushed him back to the place where the snake found himself.

The female cobra also did not hide her terror.

"K-King Mufasa..." she stammered. "Can't we s-solve it, differently?"

The adult feline ignored her pleadings, listening to the suggestions of each of his own subjects.

"Kifo cha mauaji!" the elephant in the crowd yelled.

"Kifo cha mauaji!" the cheetah also yelled.

"Kifo cha mauaji!"

"Kifo cha mauaji!"

The subjects seemed to have made up their minds and the choice has already been made.

Mufasa glanced at the Egyptian cobra family with a heavy heart, when he saw that the whole trio were crying terribly. Really terribly.

"Well" the adult lion let out a sigh. "What is your last wish?"

The female Egyptian cobra gently raised her child with a tail, moving it before the eyes of the King of Pride Lands. The feline felt confused.

"P-Please, s-spare our son, Ushari" the father of the hatchling cried under his breath. "L-let h-him live"

Mufasa glanced at the young snake, until something burst in him.

The young Egyptian cobra hatchling was not much younger than his son Simba. Ushari rubbed his watery eyes nervously as the adult lion stared right at him.

"D-don't cry, s-sweetie..." his father stuttered with a soft smile appearing on his snout. "Look at the king... He will not hurt you"

The little snake looked ahead and stressfuly hissed. Mufasa simply understood that the little creature had nothing to do with what his parents did.

"O-Of... Of course" the lion replied with a fake smile. "Everything is going to be alright, little buddy"

The adult feline glanced at his subjects standing right behind the Egyptian cobra family with a head tilt. It meant the king wanted to say something, which forced the animals to turn into hearing.

"Get this kid out of here" he stated. "The cobra is too young to see what will happen to his parents"

"D-daddy?" the young snake tried to run to his father, but was pushed back straight to the crowd. "DADDY!"

"C-calm d-down, Ushari!" his mother tried to calm things down, as she disappeared with her mate in the cluster. "Everything will be all right with us!"

The poor young snake didn't even know it was a big lie.

Ushari feeling confused and lost in the whole situation, felt how someone gingerly grabs his tail.

Embroiled, he slowly turned in this direction.

Two pairs of eyes were looking at him. One pair belonged to a meerkat and the other to a warhog. The two looked like they knew something, but tried to keep a smile no matter what thing they saw.

"W-who are you, m-misters?" Ushari tried to ask as nice, as he could, but in the same time, looked back to the crowd in the search of his parents. "Where are my parents going?"

The two creatures awkwardly and with sweat flowing down their bodies, looked at each other, but after a few seconds their eyes returned to the hatchling's confused eye blink.

"Your mommy and daddy will be fine..." Timon awkwardly smiled. "But... I think should go somewhere else, sweetheart"

Pumba nodded to his friend's words.

"But... I want to talk with my parents"

Timon caught Ushari's back.

"Trust me, child" the meerkat said, but this time more firmly. "It's not a good idea to go there"

"What are you talking about, sir?" the young Egyptian cobra hissed with curiosity in his voice. "Why I can't talk with my parents?"

Pumba sighed.

"B-Because. J-just... Go with us..."

Timon offered him a paw.

After a moment's reflection, Ushari caught it.

. . .

The Egyptian cobra woke up gasping for air, when he felt a grip on his limbless body. He was nervous and sweat poured out of his scales.

The adult snake realized that those who hugged him were two sleeping lions.

Ushari sighed with relief, spotting he was back at Simba's Pride Rock and returned back to sleep.


End file.
